Horizontal opening desk



United States Patent HORIZONTAL OPENING DESK Matthew A. Stuck, Menasha, Wis., assignor of twenty-five percent to Albert T. Stuck, Menasha, Wis.

Application May 6, 1955, Serial No. 506,580 1 Claim. (Cl. 312-325) This invention is related generally to furniture construction and is more particularly concerned with a readily usable desk which provides a horizontal writing or support surface, said support surface being movable horizontally away from a receptacle portion of said desk whereby various material on said horizontal support surface is undisturbed.

A further object of invention in conformance with that set forth above is to provide a Writing desk which includes a horizontal top surface or cover member which is supported on a plurality of pivotal links which guide the opening or movement of support surface away from a desk receptacle in a relatively fixed horizontal plane.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 11 of Figure 3;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to Figure l and showing the horizontal support surface in an open position relative to the desk receptacle;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the hinge portions on the pivot link of said desk.

The desk is indicated generally at 10 and includes a receptacle portion 12 supported on support legs 14, said receptacle 12 including secured thereon a horizontally movable support surface 16.

The receptacle 12 includes a bottom portion 18 having upwardly extending sides 20 defining a receptacle portion 22.

The support legs 14 include a member which includes legs 24 connected to a bight portion 26 and including on the lower end of the legs suitably resilient end elements 28. The bight portion 26 is secured to the undersurface 30 of the bottom 1nember 18 by means of transversely spaced bracket elements 32 which include outwardly extending flange portions 34 through which extend suitable fasteners 36. As seen in Figure 3, the receptacle 12 has two spaced support leg members secured thereto providing therebetween a suitable space for the users knees to extend underneath the receptacle portion of the desk.

As seen in Figure'3 secured on opposite side walls of the receptacle 12 are pivot pins 38 which have concengenerally U-shaped trically disposed thereon a spacer sleeve 40, see Figure 4, pivotally supporting a pivotal link 42 which is pivotally supported on the pivot pin 38 between the sleeve 40 and a suitable screw fastener 44.

The support surface 16 includes a top member 46 having secured thereon in suitable spaced relation a pair of bracket elements 48, retained by means of suitable screws 50, for example, the bracket elements including an outwardly extending pivot pin 52 pivotally received within an aperture 54 in the top end 56 of the pivot link 42. The pivot link includes a resilient clip element 58 fixedly supported on a pivot pin 60 disposed downwardly from the upper end 56 of the pivot link 42, said resilient clip element including an upper offset resiliently urged portion 62 which is engageable within a suitably recessed portion 64 on the surface of the bracket element 48 opposite that from which the pivot pin 52 extends.

As seen in Figures 1 and 2, and shown by the phantom lines of Figure l, the desk top 46 may be moved on the pivot links 42 from the position shown in Figure 1 whereupon the top 46 is in juxtaposition over the upper edges of the sides 20 of the receptacle 12. Said top 46 may be rotated on the pivot links 42 into the position shown in Figure 2 whereupon a person sitting adjacent to the portion at the left end of the receptacle, as seen in Figure 2, will have access to the interior 22 of the receptacle. The resilient clip elements 58 aid in supporting the top 46 in the position seen in Figure 3 by virtue of their cooperation with the recesses 64 as previously mentioned, for the purpose of having access to the entire receptacle portion 22.

Various positional directional terms such as top, bottom, etc., are utilized herein to have only a relative connotation to aid in describing the device and are not intended to be interpreted as requiring any particular orientation with respect to any external elements.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A desk including vertical sides, opposite pairs of links having corresponding ends pivoted to said sides for swinging of said links into and from a vertical position, a top, brackets depending from and fixed to said top and having pivot pins on one side thereof on which the other ends of said links are pivoted for raising and lowering of said top in response to swinging of said links into and from vertical position, said brackets having recesses therein in the other side thereof, and resilient clips on said other ends of the links yieldingly interlocking with the said recesses in the vertical position of said links to yieldingly lock said links in vertical position and said top raised.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 612,987 Cary Oct. 25, 1898 673,335 Casebolt Apr. 30, 1901 806,304 Street Dec. 5, 1905 883,305 Fetch Mar. 31, 1908 1,334,426 Winter Mar. 23, 1920 2,497,552 Ledel Feb. 14, 1950 

